Welcome to Petscaping™, training and landscape design with pets in mind. This book provides information, tips and expertise on creating a fun, beautiful, safe, and stimulating backyard environment for your pets and family. The book is borne from 22 years of working with homeowners on residential landscape designs nationwide. As pets seem to have taken on a greater role in family life, my backyard designs have “gone to the dogs” to adapt.
Wherever I go, folks are always asking me for advice on how to design their yards to solve the challenges that sharing a yard with pets can present. The problem is, it is never just a landscape solution alone. Pets are people too, and our furry friends have their own personalities and behavioral issues to consider. The best solutions are always a combination of knowledgeable pet training and well planned landscape design. So how could I respond to their questions all alone?
This book is the answer. I’ve joined up with long time friend, and expert animal trainer, Carolyn Doherty to create Petscaping™. An idea that started out over a family dinner has grown to become a unique and rich resource on pet training and landscape design, tackling design and pet behavioral issues in the garden.
This book was written for pet lovers and the professionals that design for them. Enjoy!
As a professional animal trainer, I have helped owners work with their pets for nearly two decades. My approach to training is always twofold: provide the best possible situation for a pet, one which naturally encourages good behavior, and pair it with compassionate training to teach the pet what good behavior is. Though identifying what’s not working and adapting a training program for each client comes naturally to me, advising clients on how to make the necessary changes to their yards is beyond my area of expertise. Time and again I’ve suggested consulting landscaping books for guidance, while lamenting not knowing of a perfect one to recommend. Now with Petscaping™ in print, that’s all changed, and I am honored to have worked with a pro like Scott on this fun and unique project!
There are many landscaping books and animal training books on the market, but Petscaping™ is the first to combine comprehensive information about creating the perfect outdoor environment for your pet with answers for behavioral questions that arise when a pet is outside. Each topic is addressed from both points of view, and the answers written with logic and simplicity in mind. We’ve broken down landscaping, gardening, and dog training into easy-to-understand explanations, with lots of charts, pictures, and time-saving tips so you can quickly access the information you need. It has numerous project descriptions for the do-it-yourselfers as well as key design guidelines to aid landscaping professionals. And as for the training, whether you’re an experienced dog owner or you’ve just acquired your very first pooch, you’ll be able to master the techniques with ease, and have a happy coexistence with your furry best friend in no time.
I’m excited to present this book to you, and hope you enjoy your hand at Petscaping™!
Exclusive excerpt from the book, (plus bonus material not in the book): Edible Gardens for Pets
By Anthea Davidson
Creative Horticultural Consultant & Garden Designer
Petscaping Your Yard - Design Considerations
Basic considerations to take into consideration before you begin making your yard pet friendly
Lawn and Order
Which types of grass are best for which dogs, and what do do about lawn damage
What to Put Underfoot
Groundcover alternatives to lawns
Providing For Pooch
This chapter covers customizing your yard in fun, creative, and attractive ways to accommodate man’s best friend.
In The Dog House - Shelter/Confinement
Every dog should spend some time in his dog house. This chapter describes your options for pet housing and refuge from the elements.
Game on! Dog Play the Petscaping Way
Dog Training 101: There are training tips throughout this book for initiating, sculpting, and improving your dog’s behavior. It is necessary, therefore, to first discuss the general importance of dog training and explain key concepts so you have the knowledge to work with your dog correctly.
Dog-gone it! Common Garden Behavioral Issues
Easy solutions for common outdoor problems
Scott Cohen is the creative force behind The Green Scene, one of the fastest-growing residential landscape design and construction firms in the Los Angeles area. Scott’s passion for design began as a boyhood fascination with sculpture, drawing, architecture and gardening. As a teenager he started his own successful landscape business and began to self-teach many of the innovative landscaping methods he still uses today at The Green Scene.
Scott has a unique approach to creating outdoor resort-style landscape designs that reflect the lifestyle of the homeowners as well as the attributes of the home and yard. Pets are often a big part of that equation, and have their own needs. A four-page “Getting-To-Know-You” questionnaire allows Scott to incorporate the hobbies, pets, personalities, and interests of the homeowners into his designs to give each a truly personalized project.
Cohen is available for consultation nationwide.
Unlike many other designers, Scott is a licensed contractor in landscape, swimming pool and general construction, enabling him to service every phase of a project. He is constantly pushing the envelope with new construction techniques and developing his management systems to deliver unparalleled workmanship and professionalism to his clients.
A two time Masters Of Design Award winner, Scott has also been featured on Home and Garden Television’s Landscaper's Challenge, Designing for the Sexes, and Get Out,Way Out!, Fine Living Network‘s Bodacious Backyards series and A&E’s Fix this Yard.
Scott's designs are also regularly showcased in numerous magazines such as Luxury Pools, Pool and Spa News, Architectural West, Hearth and Home, and Signature Pools and Outdoors.
Other books by Scott Cohen, available for purchase at Amazon.com:
Carolyn Doherty is a professional animal trainer with over two decades of experience. Her enthusiastic love of animals prompted her career running canine obedience groups throughout Los Angeles, California. After obtaining a degree in exotic animal training and management from Moorpark College, Carolyn worked in the film and television industry for 15 years, providing meticulously trained animal performers for numerous movies and TV shows. Carolyn is best known for her extensive expertise working with dogs and runs her own dog training company, Gracious Dog, servicing select clients in the Los Angeles area.
Why Concrete Floors are Pet-Friendly
Those of us who live with and love our pets consider them to be important members of the family. When choosing the flooring materials we use in our home, therefore, we should give careful thought to how they might affect the comfort of our four-footed companions, and how well they will stand up to claws, muddy paws and the inevitable "accident." Whether you own a cat or dog (or both), few flooring materials are friendlier to pets and their owners than concrete. Here are six reasons why.
